U.S. air strikes angering Afghans

July 29, 2008|By EZATULLAH ZAWAB and HAFIZULLAH GARDESH The Institute for War & Peace Reporting

KABUL, Afghanistan -- "Karzai should hand over the murderers so that we can hang them, or else he should resign," said Rai Khan, shaking with anger. "If he does not do one or the other, then we will leave our homes and take matters into our own hands." Khan, an elder from the Haskamena district of Nangarhar province in southeastern Afghanistan, was reacting to a U.S. air strike on July 6 that local residents say left close to 50 members of a wedding party dead, including the bride. Now they want President Hamid Karzai to deliver justice in the form that their traditions demand. The incident occurred in the village of Khetai as the bridal party was making its way to the groom's house. As is the tradition in Afghan weddings, a large delegation is sent to escort the bride from her parents' house to her new home. The procession, called a "wara," is made up mostly of women and children from both families. By 6:30 a.m., the party had already been walking for three hours, in part to avoid the blistering heat of the Nangarhar summer, when the air strike occurred. They were singing traditional wedding songs when they were interrupted by the sound of explosions. When the dust finally settled, 44 members of the wedding party were dead. "When I reached the area, I heard my grandson screaming," said Lala Zareen, the groom's father. "He was saying, 'Grandpa, please help me, I'm stuck. I am fine, just get me out from under this rock.' But I couldn't do anything. I knew he wouldn't survive. I just put some clothing under his head, and left him for God." Lala's son, Attiqullah, is only 15. His father had hurriedly arranged the marriage after his wife died recently. In fact, the elder Zareen had exchanged his eldest daughter for Attlqullah's bride. Days after the attack, the would-be groom still appeared to be in a state of shock, unable to cope with the tragedy that had struck his family. "It's my wedding party -- my brothers and sisters have gone to the bride's house to bring her here. They're on the way; when they arrive you may congratulate me," Attiqullah said. But his father was all too aware of what had occurred. "When I got (to the site of the air strike), I saw pieces of bodies scattered around. I couldn't even make out which part was which. It was just flesh, everywhere," said Lal Zareen. The Afghan government has launched an investigation of the attack. Borhanullah Shinwari, one of those who have already inspected the scene, confirmed local accounts that there were no militants in the area of the attack. "We saw the scene of the incident," he said. "There were no military men there." Shinwari echoed the elder's demand for some form of justice. Lt. Nathan Perry, a spokesman for the U.S.-led Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, said the military makes every effort to avoid civilian casualties and was conducting its own investigation. He stood by the military's initial statement, however, that those killed were enemy combatants. "We are looking into it, getting more information," he said. "It would not be a fair assessment to say that we are backing down from previous statements." The issue of civilian casualties is highly sensitive one in Afghanistan and has prompted Karzai to issue heated warnings to his western allies. Just two days before the air strike in Nangarhar, U.S. warplanes struck a convoy in the eastern province of Nuristan. Provincial governor Tamrin Nuristani said close to 30 civilians were killed in that attack. Coalition forces had dropped leaflets warning that the area was about to be struck. Local residents say innocent civilians attempting to flee were among those killed. The latest attack has rekindled the resentment that many in Nangarhar feel for the foreign troop presence. "The coalition operates on its own," said Hamesha Gul, the local government chief in Haskamena district. "They don't ask the government, which is why they target a wedding procession instead of the Taliban and al-Qaida." "This was a deliberate act," said Abdul Aziz Khairkha, deputy head of the Nangarhar council. "If the government cannot stop these kinds of incidents, then we will rise up against it." Gen. Zaher Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan defense ministry, declined to comment on the incident. Karzai's office reiterated its support for the foreign forces in the country in general, although presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada acknowledged the problem of civilian casualties. "We confirm that civilians are killed in military operations, but these are accidents," he said at a press conference in Kabul earlier this month. "Foreign forces are our colleagues and friends. Still, we condemn any civilian casualties." Such remarks, however, appear to be doing little to reduce the level of anger in the countryside. Malek Jabar, a tribal elder from the Oghaz area, where the incident took place, said that the increasing number of civilian deaths could drive many people into the arms of the Taliban. "We Afghans have become so servile that we can no longer demand vengeance from foreigners on our own soil," he said. "If those who committed this action are not handed over to us, we will have to join the opposition. At least they do not kill our women and children." Ezatullah Zawab is a reporter in Afghanistan who writes for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting; Hafizullah Gardesh is an editor in Kabul for IWPR, a nonprofit organization that trains journalists in areas of conflict.